Wichita eagle., 1887-10-01
A MEXICAN PYRAMID.
A VISIT TO THE FAMOUS MOUND
OF CHOLULA.

Is It of Artificial or Natural OriGin?-A
Difference of Opiniou-Secret Idolatry
of the Mexican Indians-visit TO a
Cave.
The original dimensions Of the pyramid
of Cholula are unknown. Its present
height is 81 metres-177.16 feet-which is
as to to its base length Of $50 meters.
1t is built with exact conformity to the
cardinal points Of the compass, and I
have seen it stated by some old Spanish
wrlter-Sahagun, believe-that from a
chamber within passage led out at the
precise angle OF the inclination Of the
North star, as in the pyramids of the east.
AS to the origin of Cholula it is known
to be older than the Notifications of TlaX-
Gala, and a Dominican monk who visited
the spot in 1866 chronicled the following
tradition, told by the Indians: Before the
great food, which took place 4,SOO years
after the creation, Anahuac was inhabited
by q race of giants, some of whom persisted
in the deluge, and some were transformed
into fishes Some of them retained their
original form, and fed into caverns on
Tlaloc, q mountain some thirty miles west
of Cholula, which was assembled compare
lively of late by two Americans, who
reached the top with exceeding difficulty,
finding there the remains OF extensive
walls running north and south, as well as
O number Of small images and heads OF
clay. When the waters had subsidized one
of the seven Xelhua, surnamed 1.-The
Architect" went to Cholula, where, in
memory OF the refuge on Tlaloc, he erected
the artificial hill or pyramid, which he
had built of bricks from the valley of TlaI-
manalco, at the foot of Sierra Cocotl. For
their conveyance to Cholula he placed q
file of men to pass them from hand to
hand. The gods became enraged at the
presumption manifested in erecting an
edifice whose top was to reach the clouds,
and they hurled fire upon it, destroying
numbers Of Workmen, SO that the under
taking was abandoned.
The pyramid, with teOcalh built upon
its summit, was afterward dedicated to
Quetzacoatl the feathered serpent, God
of the Air. This was an ancient priest
and king Of Anahuac, adored for the sane
tity OF his daily life, and for the pilgrim
ages he made, walking barefoot over acres
of thorny cactus and the sharp spiny
leaves OF the maguey. Tired Of the emp
tiness Of his life, he went to CoatZacoalcos
and disappeared from the knowledge Of
his people This was 1.-THE Fair God''-
for Quetzacoatl was white-whoSe return
was SO long foretold, and for his coming
so many generations Of the AZtecS looked
lovingly and longingly toward the eastern
ocean. Aye! and they watch still! For
we who know the Mexican Indians well,
know that they cherish still their olden
faith, to which they have chung through
centuries Of servitude and the cruel DOM
ination Of the Spanish.
Often and often / have watched them
kneeling before the shrines OF pictured
saints, knowing that they invested the
images with the identity Of the old Aztec
divinities. On the day of Guadalupe and
other red letter days in the religious cal
endar they execute in the naves and the
atria OF certain churches ceremonious
dances that cheat the priests before their
very eyes; for it is not in the form alone
that these dances resemble those Of the
days before the conquest. And in their
own homes they offer sacrifices to the
dead and perform other rites Of the old
faith. Leave them to themselves q twelve
month-even less-and the sacriicial fires
would smoke again upon their affairs and
priestly hands reelz with blood Of palpi-
tating hearts torn from their victims.
To return: The pyramid Of Cholula
undoubtedly had its origin from the
Toltecs or the Acolhuans, since the sue
ceeding nation, the AZtecs, found Cho-
lolan there when they came into the
country, about 1870. But as to its struc-
ture am modestly prepared to take i"sue
with every writer but one. Col. Albert
S. Evans, in his "Sights and Adventures
in Mexico" advanced the theory that
Cholula is not an artificial mound, save in
modification and adaptation. He did not
care enough for his idea to fight for it, he
averred, and yet it is well worth defend
ing.
All over the valley Of Mexico and the
surrounding districts abound cone shaped
hills Of less or greater height, an apt Illus
tration being Malinche itself, near TO Cbo-
lula, and it is Evans opinion that the
aborigines chose one Of these natural
mounds and cut it away into pyramidal
form, with the four terraces whose traces
still remain, facing it with adobes, that
soon became assimilated in o concrete
mass. He says, and very justly, that
there is in eight no depression from the
general level, as naturally would be the
case had there been made an excavation
such as would result from the removal Of
SO enormous quantity of earth.
On the other hand, between the great
pyramid and the town is another, vastly
smaller, and On oblong pile of earth, quad
triangular, with precipitous sides, both Of
which may readily have been formed
from the earth cut away from the mound
in terracing. Then, to my mind, o strong
argument lies in the non-symmetry of the
pile, which is, as 1 have said, very much
sleeper on one side than On the others.
Moreover, my young guide had gradually
gathered q retinue Of little brothers and
chums, idol vendors, and they, won over
by my glib patter Of their language, and
my arbitrary settling of their disputes,
volunteered TO conduct me to cave in the
mound not visited by tourists.
At considerable risk to my OILY neck I
wriggled around the shoulder of the hill
to the entrance, behind some chaparral,
and crawled in, and the appearance Of the
passage was not favorable to the theory OF
artiflciality. In making cutting for the
tramway the workmen laid bare square
chamber, its roof sustained by cypress
beams; within were several idols carved
from basalt, q number of painted vases
and the remains Of two bodies. No par
ticular care was taken Of these relics and
they were lost. Into the smaller pyramid
q narrow passage still penetrates, and it is
lined with adobe, but it has the appear
ance OF having been opened from without,
rather than Of having been built in the
process Of erection Of the pyramid. -Cho-
lula (Nexicol Cor. San Francisco Chronicle.